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'Where Have All Our Leaders Gone?'
Remember Lee Iacocca, the man who rescued Chrysler Corporation from
it's death throes? He has a new book, and here are some excerpts.
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Lee Iacocca Says: 'Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up
with what's happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should
be screaming bloody murder. We've got a gang of clueless bozos
steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate
gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even clean up after a
hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad,
everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say,
'Stay the course'
Stay the course? You've got to be kidding. This is America, not
the damned 'Titanic'. I'll give you a sound bite: 'Throw all the
bums out!'
You might think I'm getting senile, that I've gone off my rocker,
and maybe I have. But someone has to speak up. I hardly recognize
this country anymore.
The most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the
guys in handcuffs. While we're fiddling in Iraq, the Middle East
is burning and nobody seems to know what to do. And the press is
waving 'pom-poms' instead of asking hard questions. That's not the
promise of the 'America' my parents and yours traveled across the
ocean for. I've had enough. How about you?
I'll go a step further. You can't call yourself a patriot if you're
not outraged. This is a fight I'm ready and willing to have.
The Biggest 'C' is Crisis !
Leaders are made, not born. Leadership is forged in times of
crisis. It's easy to sit there with your feet up on the desk and
talk theory. Or send someone else's kids off to war when you've
never seen a battlefield yourself. It's another thing to lead when
your world comes tumbling down.
On September 11, 2001, we needed a strong leader more than any
other time in our history. We needed a steady hand to guide us out
of the ashes. A Hell of a Mess
So here's where we stand. We're immersed in a bloody war with no
plan for winning and no plan for leaving. We're running the biggest
deficit in the history of the country. We're losing the manufacturing
edge to Asia, while our once-great companies are getting slaughtered
by health care costs. Gas prices are skyrocketing, and nobody in
power has a coherent energy policy. Our schools are in trouble. Our
borders are like sieves. The middle class is being squeezed every
which way. These are times that cry out for leadership.
But when you look around, you've got to ask: 'Where have all the
leaders gone?' Where are the curious, creative communicators? Where
are the people of character, courage, conviction, omnipotence,
and common sense? I may be a sucker for alliteration, but I think
you get the point.
Name me a leader who has a better idea for homeland security
than making us take off our shoes in airports and throw away
our shampoo? We've spent billions of dollars building a huge new
bureaucracy, and all we know how to do is react to things that have
already happened.
Name me one leader who emerged from the crisis of Hurricane
Katrina. Congress has yet to spend a single day evaluating the
response to the hurricane, or demanding accountability for the
decisions that were made in the crucial hours after the storm.
Everyone's hunkering down, fingers crossed, hoping it doesn't happen
again. Now, that's just crazy. Storms happen. Deal with it. Make
a plan. Figure out what you're going to do the next time.
Name me an industry leader who is thinking creatively about how
we can restore our competitive edge in manufacturing. Who would
have believed that there could ever be a time when 'The Big Three'
referred to Japanese car companies? How did this happen, and more
important, what are we going to do about it?
Name me a government leader who can articulate a plan for paying
down the debt, or solving the energy crisis, or managing the health
care problem. The silence is deafening. But these are the crises
that are eating away at our country and milking the middle class dry.
I have news for the gang in Congress. We didn't elect you to
sit on your asses and do nothing and remain silent while our
democracy is being hijacked and our greatness is being replaced
with mediocrity. What is everybody so afraid of? That some bonehead
on Fox News will call them a name? Give me a break. Why don't you
guys show some spine for a change?
Had Enough?
Hey, I'm not trying to be the voice of gloom and doom here. I'm
trying to light a fire. I'm speaking out because I have hope. I
believe in America. In my lifetime I've had the privilege of living
through some of America's greatest moments. I've also experienced
some of our worst crises: the 'Great Depression', 'World War II',
the 'Korean War', the 'Kennedy Assassination', the 'Vietnam War',
the 1970s oil crisis, and the struggles of recent years culminating
with 9/11.
If I've learned one thing, it's this: 'You don't get anywhere
by standing on the sidelines waiting for somebody else to take
action. Whether it's building a better car or building a better
future for our children, we all have a role to play. That's the
challenge I'm raising in this book. It's a call to 'Action' for
people who, like me, believe in America. It's not too late, but
it's getting pretty close. So let's shake off the crap and go to
work. Let's tell 'em all we've had 'enough.'
Excerpted from 'Where Have All the Leaders Gone?'. Copyright (c) 2007 by
Lee
Iacocca. All rights reserved.
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